


A Christmas Gift

by MeredithBrody



Series: Roleplay Stories [5]
Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Christmas, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 10:52:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erika decides to give Soval a little Christmas Cheer</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Christmas Gift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hesdeadjim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hesdeadjim/gifts).



> This is my Tumblr Secret Santa gift for the magnificent Hannah who plays Soval. Set in our roleplay universe.

Erika Hernandez had always been accused of going a little overboard at Christmas. During the NX programme she’d decorated the hangar in Hannukah, Kwanza, Christmas, and when the year was appropriate for it, Diwali decorations. Even though most of the time either nobody noticed or nobody cared. It had been her own little way of feeling at home back then. She’d done it as the XO on the _Republic_ too. On _Columbia_ she had had to delegate to various members of her crew, and she’d missed doing it.

So, she’d been searching for someone or somewhere to make feel a little Christmassy. Which was when Gardner had mentioned that Soval tried to avoid Christmas by staying in the embassy. She already had a present for him, and considering she still had a few hours before _Enterprise_ was due in dock it seemed as good a time as any to take a trip to the Vulcan Embassy to see Soval, and maybe decorate his office a little.

It was probably lucky that she had a bag full of spare decorations that she hadn't used in her apartment, mostly Jon's old ones that she'd thought looked a bit tatty. Considering that she was mostly doing this to annoy Soval, that probably wasn't that much of a problem. The walk through the city was quite enjoyable, it wasn't as warm as she liked, but sometimes weather like this would mean snow. Not that she was staying in the city this Christmas.

She announced herself at the Embassy and smiled as a relatively young Vulcan lead her back through the odd maze-like internal architecture until they got to the office they were looking for. It wasn't until she was thanking the Vulcan that she realised he was probably older than she was. Not that that mattered all that much right now.

"Here, have a sweater!" She said cheerfully in greeting as the Ambassador looked up to the doorway. She took a few steps through and smiled, seeing that clearly Jo had already attempted to instill some festive cheer in the office. Erika would just be finishing it off. She was sure her old friend wasn't really going to mind much. "Merry Christmas."

"What is the purpose of this?" He asked, catching the festive sweater she had thrown in his direction and held it in front of him.

Erika smiled as she pulled some tinsel out of the bag she carried and threw it around Soval's shoulders, already certain that in some corner of his mind Soval was plotting how best to murder her. "It's fun, Ambassador." She grinned and unzipped the top of her uniform to expose her festive shirt beneath it. "I found out you normally stayed at the embassy and avoided Christmas, so I thought that I should bring some Christmas cheer here." She kept grinning and saw the obvious mental struggle for Soval not to roll his eyes.

"I do not understand." He said after a moment. "Jo often tells me I am the 'Grinch'. I have asked her why she is excited for Christmas, as far as I am aware, her religion doesn't observe it the same as others." It took Erika a few minutes to remember that Jo was Jewish.

"It's a culturally accepted celebration, moreso than any other. Blame the Romans around the beginning of common era." Erika smiled again and wrapped some tinsel around the door frame, "I can assure you that my religion very much does celebrate Christmas, I'm a Catholic." She had been born and raised that way,and so Christmas had always been a big deal in her family. "Just accept it. It's a couple of presents and some tinsel. Though I do expect you to wear the sweater." She pointed in the direction of the sweater and smiled wider.

"What is the meaning of this garment?" He asked, and as she looked away from her tinsel and over to him he pointed to the glittery Rudolph that was now on his chest.

"It's Rudolph, you know from the song." She replied, with a smile, miming antlers over her head as she did. Not entirely sure the miming of a reindeer would actually help the Ambassador, it certainly didn't seem like it had when he just narrowed his eyes in clear confusion. His confusion only seemed to grow as she continued miming the antlers. After a few seconds she dropped her hands and shrugged. "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose, and if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names, they never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games. Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say 'Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight. Then all the reindeer loved him, and they shouted out with glee. Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you'll go down in history." Erika sang joyfully. It was too much fun to be singing one of her favourite Christmas Carols. It didn't seem Soval felt the same about it.

He fixed her with a stare that just caused her grin to grow. It was hilarious to be teaching him about these little idioms of human culture, particularly when it included singing and having him wear a jumper. "Was that really necessary?" He asked, indicating her song with a hand waved at his own chest.

She pretend to think for a second before answering. "Yes. Open the rest of your presents.” At the rise of his eyebrow she fixed him with a steady smile and shrugged. “I have to go meet Jonathan in a few minutes but I want to see you open them." She hadn’t seen Jonathan in a few months, and she was excited to see her husband, but now she’d made the time to come and visit Soval she wanted to see him open the trinkets she'd got for him.

He pulled out the first package and unwrapped it neatly. It seemed strange not to have someone ripping the paper off the present. But had to laugh at him neatly folding the paper again then holding up the first of his gains. "What is this?"

"It's a porcelain cat." the cat was even painted in a pattern similar to her own, which is why she'd bought it for Soval to begin with. The Ambassador and her cat didn't often get along. Which was funnier to her than it probably should have been. "I remembered how much you enjoyed having Grumps around."

"Quite." He almost grimaced at that explanation, and gingerly picked up the second of the packages she'd pulled out. "And this?" He asked once he'd given the wrapping paper a similar careful opening.

"Stuffed puppy. That's from Jon." She wanted to point out that they had both gotten him something, though Jonathan wasn't yet aware of that. She'd fill him in on that while they were away.

Soval turned away with the teddy and then walked over to her with something in his hands. "While I do not usually partake in this ritual, Jo told me that it would be appropriate to have a gift to return. I have not wrapped it." He handed over something that looked like an intricate oil burner. She looked over the lines of it as she took hold of it. It was heavier than she had expected.

"It's beautiful, what is it?"

"It is a meditation lamp. Maybe once you return to this city I can teach you how to use it." Soval's offer was clearly quite genuine, and that made her smile again, though it also reminded her that she wasn't really sure how long she'd be home for. She'd been promised 5 days leave, with an option for the full 10 days she was owed. It would work out, she was sure, and learning how to use this lamp would be something to look forward to.

"That would be nice, providing I'm not sent out on patrol. Oh, I also managed to take down that fake profile Ensign Mayweather set up, and threatened him with a fate worse than death if he tried anything like it again." She grimaced momentarily, still pretty sure that Jon had found the whole situation funnier than she had. She looked at the lamp she'd put on top of her bag and smiled, looking up to her friend again. "Thank you, Soval."

"And you, Erika."

"Merry Christmas." She picked up the lamp she'd been given with a cheery grin. Knowing it was time for her to go either way. She needed to get to the shuttleport, and she was almost certain that Soval had a battle with taking off a Christmas Sweater ahead of him.


End file.
